WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Obama will award Israeli President Shimon Peres with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
During his speech Sunday before the AIPAC policy conference, Obama said he would award the medal — the highest honor that the United States can award to a civilian — to Peres this summer.
Obama focused a portion of his speech on praising the work of the Israeli president.
“In his life he has fought for Israel’s independence, and he has fought for peace and security. As a member of the Haganah and a member of the Knesset; as a minister of defense and foreign affairs; as a prime minister and as a president — Shimon helped build the nation that thrives today: the Jewish state of Israel," the U.S. leader said. “But beyond these extraordinary achievements, he has also been a powerful moral voice that reminds us that right makes might, not the other way around.”
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